Apparatus for disintegration and separation of soil and similar materials

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for disintegration and separation of soil material, comprising a hopper to which the soil to be treated is supplied, and a conveyor disposed at the outlet of the hopper for forwarding of soil for further treatment. The improvement comprises a grate rotor at the discharge and of the conveyor for disintegrating the soil material and throwing the same into the working area of a whipping rotor having whipping chains for further disintegration of the soil and a sieve adapted to receive the treated material and separate waste material from usable soil.

United States Patent Nilsson et a1.

[54], APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATION AND SEPARATION OF SOIL AND SIMILARMATERIALS [72] Inventors: Harry Nilsson, Stjarnvagen 10, 172 46Sundybert; Gunner Larsson, Pinnmovagen 6, 803 50 Gavle, both of Sweden[22] Filed: Feb. 16, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 115,379

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 20, 1970 Sweden ..2168/70[52] US. Cl. ..241/79.2, 241/101 M, 241/154, 241/186 R [51] Int. Cl...B02c 13/02, B02c 13/20 [58] Field of Search ..241/79, 79.2, 101 M,154A, 241/154, 186 R, 187, 189 R [151 3,704,834 [451 Dec. 5, 1972Primary Examiner-Robert L. Spruill AttorneySommers & Young [5 7 ABSTRACTAn apparatus for disintegration and separation of soil material,comprising a hopper to which the soil to be treated is supplied, and aconveyor disposed at the outlet of the hopper for forwarding of soil forfurther treatment. The improvement comprises a grate rotor at thedischarge and of the conveyor for disintegrating the soil material andthrowing the same into the working area of a whipping rotor havingwhipping chains [56] References Cited for further disintegration of thesoil and a sieve UNITED STATES PATENTS adapted to receive the treatedmaterial and separate waste material from usable soil. 3,412,945 ll/l968Sackett ..241/154 1,776,593 9/1930 Meyer ..24l/l52 A 5 Claims, 3 DrawingFigures ll a 12 Mg l F1 1 I a r 1,

conveyor disposed at the outlet of the hopper for forwarding of the soilmaterial to further treatment. Soil for planting, laying-out of seedbeds for lawns and other planting purposes must be finely disintegratedand free from stones, clay clods, roots and like. In such planting workthere is often to be treated soils of widely varying quality andconsistency. Thus the soil can come from lots completely overgrown withgrass and weeds, fields and the like, in which there is a stronglyinterconnecting layer of roots. The use of correctly composed andsufficiently finely disintegrated pure soil materials is an absolutecondition if the ground is to be smooth and durable. It is alsonecessary that the soil disintegration and separation be easilyaccomplished. Many different measures are daily tested to refine commonarable land to meet said requirements.

Owing to the stickycharacter of the soil material and its naturalmoisture and that the soil always includes various sizes and densenessof interconnecting plant parts, all attempts with crushing and/orgrinding mechanical components have failed since rapid and completeclogging of the apparatus occurs irrespective of whether there is usedan apparatus using compressive movements or a combination of a rotor andstator.

The main object of the present invention therefore is to provide anapparatus which owing to a particular design will giveexcellent resultswhen treating dry and naturally moistened soil as well as similarmaterial. Another object is to provide an apparatus which disintegratesand separates, in the same apparatus,the soil into usable soil andnon-desirable waste components.

The apparatus is characterized in that at the discharge end of theconveyor is mounted a rotary grate rotor for disintegrating the soilmaterial and throwing same into the working area of a whipping rotorhaving whipping chains or like for further disintegrating remaining soilclods while whipping out roots and other part of the plant from the soilmaterial, a sieve further being adapted to receive the treated materialand separate waste material from usable soil.

Although the following description only refers to treatment of soilmaterial for garden purposes, the apparatus is also able to treat othermaterial having similar composition and consistency.

By way of example only, an embodiment of this invention will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the apparatus as a whole;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of same; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a delivery unit and acultivator rotor and a whipping rotor.

The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a frame 14,supported by wheels, if desired, the upper portion of said frame 14carrying a hopper l to which the soil to be treated is supplied. Aconveyor 2 provided with entraining members 4 is arranged below a loweroutlet of the hopper I. A toothed feed roller 3 is mounted adjacent saidoutlet to provide for a controlled uniform feeding of the soil materialto a treatment stationin cooperation with the conveyor 2. This stationcomprises, on the one hand, a rotary grate rotor 5 and, on theother, awhipping rotor 7. The grate rotor 5 has a number of longitudinal,substantially radially directed toothed blades 6 and is mounted at thedischarge end of the conveyor 2, so that the axis of the rotor 5 isdisposed transversely to the feed direction of the conveyor and in i theplane of the latter. The whipping rotor 7 is disposed downstream of therotor 5 and includes a rotor axis 8 havingwhipping chains 9 mountedthereon. a

. The apparatus further comprises a sieve 10 which is supported by theframe 14 and has a screen member 11 which in a suitable way is forced tovibrate and shake. Chain curtains 13 are placed above the sieve 10 toprevent treated soil material from passing by above the sieve 10 and toavoid direct ejection througha waste outlet. A discharge conveyor 12 islocated below the sieve 10 to discharge the usable screened soil.

The apparatus can also be provided with a dispenser for additionofmanure to the treated soil material. Said mechanical components arepreferably disposed within a housing supported by the frame 14.

The apparatus can be driven by electrical motors, through well-knowntransmission mechanisms which need not be described in this connection.It is appreciated that various mechanical units of the apparatus can beenclosed within a housing carried by said frame 14.

In operation, the apparatus is mainly adapted to be stationary disposedadjacent to a supply of the soil to be treated, which preferably is fedto the hopper l of the apparatus by meansof a bucket loader or the like.A controlled uniform feeding of the soil to the grate rotor 5 isachieved by cooperation of the rotation of the feed roller 3 and theforward movement of the entraining members 4 of the conveyor 2. Thisrotor 5 constantly mills and grates soil material from the front edge ofthe supplied layer of material during high rotational speed of the rotor5. The soil material is then thrown upwardly and forwardly into theworking area of the whipping rotor 7. The whipping rotor 7 separates thesoil from peat and root complexes while further breaking-up of the soilclods. The treated soil material then falls down on the sieve 10 whichseparates the material by the vibrating screen member 11 so that usablematerial will pass through said screen member and fall onto thedischarge conveyor 12, while the waste material continues to travel uponthe member 11 until it reaches a waste storage. The conveyor 12discharges the usable and refined material from the apparatus.

What we claim is:

1. A comminuting machine for disintegration and separation of moistsoil, such as naturally moistened field or meadow soil or similar moistmaterials, comprising; a hopper, an endless feed conveyor disposedbeneath the outlet of said hopper, a feed roller mounted adjacent theoutlet of said hopper and above the discharge end of said feed conveyorto provide a positively controlled feeding of the soil material, arotary grater rotor means mounted at the discharge end of said feedconveyor and adapted to disintegrate the soil being fed on said conveyorto said grater rotor means, a flailing chain rotor means disposed 3. Anapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grate rotor is provided witha number of radially extending blades having teeth thereon which extendalong the whole length thereof.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a discharge conveyor forusable soil is disposed below the sieve.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein chain curtains areprovided above the sieve to prevent direct ejection and passage of thetreated soil material above the sieve.

1. A comminuting machine for disintegration and separation of moistsoil, such as naturally moistened field or meadow soil or similar moistmaterials, comprising; a hopper, an endless feed conveyor disposedbeneath the outlet of said hopper, a feed roller mounted adjacent theoutlet of said hopper and above the discharge end of said feed conveyorto provide a positively controlled feeding of the soil material, arotary grater rotor means mounted at the discharge end of said feedconveyor and aDapted to disintegrate the soil being fed on said conveyorto said grater rotor means, a flailing chain rotor means disposeddownstream of said grater rotor means for further disintegration of thesoil, a housing covering the sides and the upper portion of the soiltreating zone and allowing a free deflected path of the soil above saidrotor means, and a vibratable screen member disposed beneath said soiltreating zone.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which at leastone feed roller provided with teeth is disposed in the hopper adjacentthe outlet thereof for providing together with the conveyor, which hasentraining members, a controlled delivery of the soil material to thegrate rotor.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the graterotor is provided with a number of radially extending blades havingteeth thereon which extend along the whole length thereof.
 4. Anapparatus according to claim 2, wherein a discharge conveyor for usablesoil is disposed below the sieve.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 2,wherein chain curtains are provided above the sieve to prevent directejection and passage of the treated soil material above the sieve.